World Cup breaks Super Bowl record on Twitter

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Nervous Brazilian soccer fans took to Twitter to breathe a collective sigh of relief as the final, tension-filled moments of a penalty shootout against Chile broke an all-time record for online buzz during a live event.

Almost 389,000 tweets were generated in the minute after Chilean defender Gonzalo Jara’s penalty shot hit the right post and allowed the five-time World Cup champion to avoid an early exit from the tournament that it’s hosting for the first time since 1950.

That broke the previous mark set during this year’s Super Bowl. About 382,000 tweets were sent just after the Seattle Seahawk’s Percy Harvin returned a kickoff 87 yards for a touchdown, according to data compiled by the microblogging site.

But don’t count America’s pastime out just yet.

Team USA’s strong performance at this year’s World Cup is driving interest in the soccer among Americans and the group stage match against Portugal was the most-watch soccer game on television. But overall, the NFL showpiece game generated nearly 25 million tweets, trouncing the 16.4 million during Saturday’s round of 16 match, the most-tweeted yet during the tournament.

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Follow Joshua Goodman on Twitter: @APjoshgoodman

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